Lilly and Courtney

How We Met

It was an ordinary day at the gym that I ran. I was taking a break to workout. After finishing my workout, something was drawing me to stay. I scanned the room and immediately locked eyes with my now fiance. We couldn’t stop watching each other or leave the room. We immediately wanted to be close to each other. We found familiarity in each, other even though we were from opposite sides of the country. We had never met, but it was like we had known each other our whole lives. I finally made my way back to my office, still on the lookout for Lilly. I noticed she had made her way upstairs looking for me, but trying to play it cool. I couldn’t help but notice she had the same glasses that I did. This was my chance to say something to her before she left. “I like your glasses!”, I said eagerly. She immediately made her way over to me and we just started blabbing about anything. Only a couple of minutes had passed, but I felt like I knew everything about her already. She told me her name and I was determined to know more about her. Naturally I turned to the internet. I found her and it took everything in me to follow her and I hoped she didn’t think I was a total creep. She followed me back later that day and all I could do was look at her pictures over and over again. I wanted to be around her and I wanted to talk to her. The next day I received a message from her, I opened it immediately. She had asked how I found her…I made a joke of it and called myself out on the level of creepiness I achieved.

She had admitted to googling me in order to find me as well, which was actually achieved an even higher level of creep. From that moment we could not stop talking, we immediately made plans to see each other as soon as we could. We were inseparable. I noticed that she could possibly be in a relationship and immediately my heart sank, but I knew no matter what I had to have her in my life. We spent almost every week day together and everyone around us could feel the amazing connection we had and how much we completed each other. Lilly’s ex had noticed that we had gotten close and I starting experiencing the toxic relationship that Lilly had been trying to escape for so long. That didn’t stop me from being whatever I could be for Lilly. We still talked all day every day and saw each other whenever we could, even if it was only a minute. It wasn’t long before we shared our first kiss, the same place we first met. Her ex tried everything she could to separate us and my friends told me I was crazy to get involved in such a messy situation. She would threaten me, show up at my job, torment Lilly. Still nothing could keep us apart. Time had passed and things were very tense with trying to get Lilly out of the terrible situation she was trapped in. I met Lilly’s family when they had come to visit the east coast all the way from Wyoming. Not knowing the details of Lilly and I’s relationship, they immediately could feel and see the connection we shared. More time had passed and we both only wished that we could finally be together and not feel threatened. Lilly did not know how to escape. I had told Lilly numerous times that she could come live with me and we would figure everything out. Finally late one night, three months after we had met, I received a text from Lilly that she was coming over and bringing her dog. I told her to come and stay as long as she wanted or needed. She never went back, and we have never been happier. We have never once regretted anything we had gone through, or any decision we made that led us to where we are now. Everyone told us we were crazy and that all we were going to do was get hurt, but we knew that we had found the one and we didn’t want to ever let go. We have never doubted that we were made for each other. I guess we have the universe to thank for aligning our stars, I know we have loved each other before we even knew each other.

How She Asked

Not long after we had been living together I knew, well we both knew we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together. I could not wait to surprise her, but after the craziness she just went through I was really nervous about getting her family’s blessing. I had finally picked out the perfect ring and her family gave me their approval. I could not wait to surprise her and to take the next step in spending forever with her. We had talked about it often and how we would marry each other any day. I knew I wanted things to be special for the both of us, so I started planning. I knew I wanted the proposal to be different and nothing she would expect. I started brain storming on the things she was passionate about. I knew with her law enforcement experience and her love for guns and gun safety that a gun range would be so unique and special. I knew we both would want pictures to look through and re-live this moment so I started researching outdoor ranges. I had been wanting to go shooting and she had been wanting to take me and teach me to shoot her guns.

I found the perfect outdoor, low key range in Southern Maryland and I hired an open minded photographer that was down for the challenge. I also got a custom target made with ‘Will you marry me, Lilly?’ with a large ‘yes’ target and a tiny ‘no’ target, even though I knew she was a good enough shot to hit that no target…I was still confident she would say yes. The days leading up to the engagement she asked so many questions I just wanted to spill the beans already, she made it extra hard to keep surprises from her. I was determined for it to be as special as possible. The day was finally here and the weather was perfect! We got to the range and she started teaching me how to shoot. The photographer was right on time to catch some shots of us and her. After a while I asked her to load all the guns while I changed the target. While she was distracted I was able to put up the custom target I got made her her. Before I could even turn around I heard everyone at the range start to cheer. I made my way back to her and I saw her look up and register the target. I pulled the ring out of my bag and got down on one knee and her face was priceless.

It was everything we both imagined. She said yes before I could even finish the question and immediately jumped into my arms. She then shot yes. The photographer caught everything, and we were able to take engagement photos afterwards. We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day. Lilly soon after surprised me back with my dream ring.